If you've ever watched television, you've probably noticed that TV dramas follow a formula. Almost every drama -whether a crime drama, a medical drama, a family in crisis drama -they all follow this same formula Here’s the formula:
There is a nice person that you like. There is a villain or a bad person that you dislike. And there is the hero or the star that
you like a whole lot. The villain
causes problems for the nice person you like. And the problems being caused seem to be insurmountable. There is a particularly terrible crisis
that occurs about 5 minutes before the show gets over. That’s when the star or the hero that
you like a whole lot comes to the rescue and the crisis is taken care of and
everyone is happy. Every once in a
while, the crisis just seems to keep getting more and more serious and it gets
to within the five minute final warning and the hero has somehow been detained
and disaster seems imminent. So,
what happens then? Well, then
three words pop up on the screen.
They say, “To be continued…”
Although it seems that everything is going badly and that’s where the
show gets left for a whole week, we all know that in the next show everything
is somehow going to turn out all right, and the hero wins after all. That’s how the formula for a television
drama works. But, of course,
that’s just on television. Real
life isn’t like that, is it?
I want to tell you the story of Jairus. This story is found in Luke chapter four, in the middle of the chapter, beginning at verse 40. If you don’t mind, I’ll tell the story in my own words.
Jairus had a problem. He had a dilemma. Jairus was an official at the synagogue. As such, he had talked often with other Elders and leaders about Jesus. Jesus was a troublemaker. That was their official position. Jesus was a troublemaker who had the annoying habit of interpreting Scriptures is such a way that, on the one hand made sense, but on the other hand contradicted all of the long standing interpretations. The common people seemed to like Jesus. They considered Him to be a Rabbi, a teacher. And more than once Jairus, himself had seen Jesus do miracles and had listened, mesmerized by Jesus’ teaching. That Jesus healed people was undoubtable. Everywhere Jesus went, he healed people. But what did the healings mean? That was the question. Was Jesus a Savior, or was He possessed by an evil spirit? Jairus was caught in a bind. He liked Jesus; he was impressed with Jesus. Although Jesus interpretations of Scripture were unorthodox, they made Jairus think. In fact, Jairus thought that just maybe Jesus was a Savior. But as an official at the synagogue, Jairus could not tell anyone what he was thinking. So when others said that Jesus was a troublemaker, Jairus remained quiet.
But then Jairus’ daughter got sick. She was very sick. The doctors that examined her did not offer much hope. They didn’t know how to cure her. They said she would die. Jairus loved his daughter, and would do almost anything to save her. But the only thing he could think of was to go to Jesus the troublemaker and beg Jesus to come and heal his daughter. He had seen Jesus heal others; he knew that Jesus could heal his daughter. The dilemma was, you see, that if he went to Jesus, he would certainly lose his credibility in the synagogue and maybe lose his job as well.
But it didn’t take Jairus long to decide. He went to Jesus. He fell at Jesus’ feet weeping. He begged Jesus to come to his house and heal his daughter. People stopped and stared. People whispered. Weeping at Jesus’ feet was not where the townspeople expected to see an important person like Jairus. But Jairus didn’t care about that, as long as Jesus healed his daughter. And Jesus looked down at the man weeping on the ground before Him, and had compassion, and said, “take me to your daughter.” And Jairus got up and began leading the way.
As Jesus followed, the crowd came along, pushing and shoving. It was slowing Jesus down. Jairus was getting nervous. His daughter was very sick and might not make it if Jesus didn’t hurry. But Jesus didn’t hurry. In fact, Jesus turned around in the crowd and asked, “who touched me?” Even Jesus’ disciples thought the question was absurd. They told him, “Look around, Jesus, nearly everyone in the crowd has touched you.” But Jesus insisted that someone specific had touched him, and he wasn’t moving until he found out.
Can you see that if this was a television drama, we have just entered into the crisis leading up to end of the show? Would Jesus make it to Jairus’ house in time to save his daughter or not? Would this delay be fatal?
Then a lady came forward though the crowd and admitted that she had touched Jesus and been healed of a hemorrhage that had been bleeding for years. Jesus told her that her faith had healed her, and Jesus began once again to follow Jairus toward his home. The crisis was averted. All was going to end well. But just when we are ready to begin rolling the credits, a messenger appears. The messenger is a servant from Jairus’ home. “You’re daughter is dead,” he says. “You’re too late.”
If we stopped the story right here, it’s a sad story –things didn’t exactly work out as hoped. If we stop the story right here, we are left with a whole lot of pain and misery and frustration. And it could be that this is where you are in your life. If you stopped right now, it would be a disaster. From where you sit right now, things don’t look so great. From where you sit, help doesn’t appear to be on the way. In fact, maybe you’ve already gone to Jesus, like Jairus did, and you’ve asked for divine intervention, and things have only gotten worse, not better. It’s painful and it’s frustrating, and we are beginning to feel all kinds of doubts and regrets and bad thoughts that we don’t even want to acknowledge because our thoughts frighten us. That’s where some of us are right now. But I want to assure you that if you love Jesus, the story is not over. Maybe things look bad. Maybe they look desperate. Maybe they look impossible. But our God is a God who specializes in the impossible. And God says that the story isn’t over. The tag at the end of the show doesn’t say, “the end,” it says, “to be continued.”
So, let’s continue. Jairus was, of course, crushed. His shoulders sagged, his head bowed, tears welled up in his eyes. Jesus came along side of him and said quietly in his ear, so quietly the crowd didn’t hear, “don’t worry, don’t be afraid, everything is going to be alright. Just take me to see your daughter.” Jesus followed Jairus to his home where his now dead daughter was lying. Mourners were already gathering. People were weeping and crying. It was a sad, sad scene. As Jesus made his way through the crowd of mourners, he said to the family of Jairus, “no need to cry –she isn’t really dead –she’s just sleeping.” Some people in the crowd began to mock Jesus. They thought He was a fool. They thought He was a moron. Of course the girl was dead. Everyone knew she was dead. Did this guy think he was going to comfort grieving parents by simply saying, “let’s just pretend she’s asleep?” What did this guy think? Did he think he was going to awaken her? Did he think he could raise her from the dead?
Well, as it turns out, that’s exactly what Jesus thought. He went to her bedside and took her by the hand and called out, “Get up, child –rise up and live.” And you know what happened –the child got up.
God, you see, knows more
than we do.
Even in bad circumstances,
God is at work redeeming the bad and causing good to come of it. And even when for a time, we can’t see
the good, if we understand that God is, indeed, good, and that He loves us, and
that He is still in the process of working for the good, we can trust God. We only see things from our little
perspective –and sometimes we misunderstand, and sometimes we don’t even have
all of the right information.
There is a lot that I don’t understand –there’s a lot that I don’t know. But here is what I know for sure. Our God is the great and mighty God. He is a good God, a compassionate God. He is a God who specializes in the impossible.
And I don’t know about you, but that’s important to me. When I’m up against the wall –when things look grim –when things look hopeless and impossible –I’m glad that I’m a child of the God of the impossible. And I’m glad that He loves me enough that He will always be working for my good. And I’m glad that even when I don’t see the bigger picture and I don’t understand, God does.. And I’m glad that I can trust that even when things look the bleakest, God doesn’t say, “the end.” Instead, He says, “to be continued…”
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